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The road to the Final Five begins Friday
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After ending the season with yet another tie to in-state rivals Colorado College, the Pioneers begin the postseason against Alaska-Anchorage at Magness Arena on Friday.
Last weekend’s tie assured DU the second seed in the tournament after North Dakota went one-and-one against Wisconsin, cementing the regular-season WCHA title.
The Pioneers played the Seawolves just twice in regular-season play, in late January. DU won the first game 6-2, in a dominating performance in which coach George Gwozdecky sat out for a prior suspension. The next night, the Seawolves won 3-2 in overtime, also at Magness Arena. But that should be no indication as to how this series should pan out.
The first round of the WCHA playoffs is a best-of-three series, with the winner advancing to the Final Five in St. Paul, Minn. Look for the Pioneers, minus injured Tyler Bozak to dominate and move on easily. Though Alaska-Anchorage finished the season near .500, they won just nine of 28 conference games.
Around the conference, North Dakota shouldn’t have any trouble with No. 10-seed Michigan Tech and No. 3 CC should easily do away with Minnesota-Duluth. Wisconsin and Minnesota State might go to three games, but the most intriguing matchup will be between Minnesota and St. Cloud State.
The once-mighty Gophers, a very young team this season, finished in fifth place in the conference with 29 points. Led by Avalanche prospect Ryan Stoa and future first round draft pick Jordan Schroeder, the Gophers are at the point of the season where they need to turn it on. Despite beating the Huskies in all four of its in-season games, the Gophers cannot overlook their in-state rivals.
The winners of the CC-UMD series and Minnesota-St. Cloud series will meet in a play-in game next week to determine the final entrant in the Final Five (well, four). The way the tournament is set up is that the ten teams play in five series the first weekend. Then the winners of the top three-seeded series automatically advance to the semifinals. The fourth- and fifth-seeded teams play in the aforementioned play-in game to determine the fourth semifinal team.
The organizers, and Gopher fans, better hope their team makes it --- not just for the program’s sake, but for attendance. Without the “home” team in the Final Five, the stands may be a bit more empty than usual.
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